Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks, the former News of the World editors, are
among seven former staff members who have been charged in connection with
the phone hacking scandal.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced that the former News International staff and a private investigator will face court on a total of 19 charges.

Prosecutors said that among those charged included Coulson, who went on to become the Downing Street head of communications and Brooks, the former News International chief executive.

Also charged were the newspaper’s former head of news Ian Edmonson, Neville Thurlbeck, its former chief reporter, Stuart Kuttner, the managing editor and former executives Greg Miskiw and James Weatherup.

Also charged were private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who was jailed in 2007 after admitting illegally intercepting messages of members of the Royal Household, who has since apologised to the victims of phone hacking.

Also targeted were Delia Smith, the celebrity chef, July 7 bombing survivor Prof John Tulloch, Calum Best, the model son of late football legend George Best, former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson and former Fire Brigades Union general secretary Andy Gilchrist.

All, with the exception of Mulcaire, are to be charged with conspiring to intercept communications without lawful authority, from 3rd October 2000 to 9th August 2006.

Mulcaire does not face those charges for "legal reasons" but instead will face four other charges.

They all deny the charges. They will face Westminster magistrates court on a date to be set. The offences carry a maximum sentence of two years in prison.

Within an hour of the decision, Mrs Brooks issued an impassioned statement, denying the charges.

She said: "I am not guilty of these charges.

"I did not authorise, nor was I aware of, phone hacking under my editorship. I am distressed and angry that the CPS have reached this decision when they knew all the facts and were in a position to stop the case at this stage.

"The charge concerning Milly Dowler is particularly upsetting not only as it is untrue but also because I have spent my journalistic career campaigning for victims of crime. I will vigorously defend these allegations."

Mr Coulson also denied the charges when he spoke to reporters outside his home in Dulwich, south London.

He said: "I'm obviously extremely disappointed by the CPS decision today. I will fight these allegations when they eventually get to court."

"But I would like to say one thing today about Milly Dowler. Anyone who knows me or who has worked with me knows that I wouldn't and didn't do anything to damage the Milly Dowler investigation.

"At the News of the World we worked on behalf of victims of crime, particularly violent crime, and the idea that I would then sit in my office dreaming up schemes to undermine the investigations is simply untrue.

"That's all I've got to say today." He declined to comment further before he was driven driven away in a black cab.

Mr Thurlbeck said he was “most surprised and disappointed” that he faced charges.

He added: "I would like to thank my family and friends for their undying support during the past 15 months.

"I am most surprised and disappointed in the outcome. I have always operated under the strict guidance and advice of News International's lawyers and under the instructions of the newspaper's editors which will be abundantly clear when this matter comes to court.

"I will vigorously fight to clear my reputation."

Mr Edmondson said he only learned he would be charged when he saw news reports of the CPS press conference.

He said: "For the past 18 months my family and I have suffered in silence. I have not given interviews or spoken out in order to get my points across or to correct reported lies or inaccuracies.

"I have much to say on this subject and I now look forward to saying it. I will clear my name at trial when the truth finally emerges."

Three people will not face any charges, including freelance journalist Terenia Taras, who was arrested on her son’s 10th birthday at her home in West Yorkshire, former News of the World reporter Ross Hall and former Evening Standard sports reporter Raoul Simons.

Two are pending further investigations. The Daily Telegraph understands they are former NoTW deputy editor Neil Wallis and one of the newspaper's feature writers Dan Evans.

Neville Thurlbeck (left) and Ian Edmondson (PA/PHIL ADAMS)

In a statement Ms Taras, 40 said: "It has been incredibly stressful and I'm extremely glad it is now over with my integrity no longer in question.

"I'm angry that this cost me my job, my income and my professional reputation was brought into question.

“I have never had any involvement in the deplorable practice of phone hacking and believe I was dragged into the investigation by association and the fact that I'm an investigative journalist who has worked on some very sensitive stories recently."

The charges follow the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Weeting investigation, the long running inquiry into claims that journalists at the now defunct Sunday tabloid hacked into the voicemails of thousands of people.

Alison Levitt, QC, Principal Legal Adviser to the Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer, disclosed the charges at a press conference on Tuesday morning.

"All the evidence has been carefully considered," she told reporters at the CPS's headquarters in central London. The charges are the first since Scotland Yard reopened its investigation last year.

"I have concluded that in relation to eight of these thirteen suspects there is sufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction in relation to one or more offences.

"May I remind all concerned that these eight individuals now will be charged with criminal offences and that each has a right to a fair trial."

She added: "It is very important that nothing is said, or reported, which could prejudice that trial. For these reasons it would be inappropriate for me to comment further."

Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, said: “Everybody was very shocked at the revelations of the hacking of Milly Dowler’s phone. I said at the time we needed to get to the bottom of what had happened.

"It is now right that justice takes its course. This is now a matter for the courts.” Downing Street has not commented.

The Metropolitan Police has said it believes there are 4,775 potential victims of phone hacking, of which 2,615 have been notified.

A total of 24 people including 15 current and former journalists have been arrested since the investigation was launched in January last year.

The majority of the arrests came after it was revealed last July that journalists on the News International title had hacked into the voicemail of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.

Murdered teenager Milly Dowler (PA)

The subsequent outrage resulted in the closure of the News of the World and the announcement of a public inquiry into the culture and practices of the press, headed by Lord Justice Leveson.

Running alongside Operation Weeting is Operation Elveden, a Met probe into allegations of corrupt payments by journalists to public officials.

So far 41 people have been arrested as part of the investigation, while an inquiry into allegations of computer hacking, Operation Tuleta, has seen seven people detained.

Until Tuesday six people including Mrs Brooks, also a former Sun editor and her husband Charlie, have been charged over the scandal.

Mrs Brooks also faces three charges of conspiring to pervert the course of justice, while her husband is charged with one count of the same offence. They are due in court in September on those charges.